EXCLUSIVE: Pirates Of The Caribbean and Carnival Row star Orlando Bloom is attached to play a boxer who comes out of retirement in psychological thriller The Cut, which The Exchange is launching ahead of the EFM in Berlin.

Bloom will be the pugilist who is coming out of retirement to vie for his championship title through a grueling and unsanctioned weight cut program with a coach who knows no limits, alienating himself from reality and loved ones, as he spirals out of control. Filming is due to start in summer 2023 in Nevada.

Sean Ellis, director of thriller Anthropoid and BAFTA-nominated crime-drama Metro Manila, will direct an adapted screenplay by Justin Bull (Little Rituals) from a story by Mark Lane.

Producers are James Harris (47 Meters Down) and Mark Lane (47 Meters Down) of Tea Shop Productions and Orlando Bloom and Adam Karasick (3:10 To Yuma) of Amazing Owl.

WME Independent is co-representing domestic sales with The Exchange. We hear there is early interest among buyers.

”We are beyond thrilled to represent this project. Sean’s track record as an inventive and dynamic director, coupled with Orlando’s planned full-body transformation, promise an incredible cinematic ride,” said Nat McCormick of The Exchange.

Bloom recently wrapped production on Gran Turismo, which will be released by Sony Pictures, and A24’s Wizards!. Recent credits include Retaliation and The Outpost, and he will next be seen in season two of Amazon’s Carnival Row, on which he is also an executive producer.

The Exchange’s EFM’23 line-up also includes Octavia Spencer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lucy Liu project Nobody Nothing Nowhere, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Guy Pearce’s Neponset Circle and Olivia Munn’s Replay.

Bloom is represented by WME and Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson McGinnis Ryan, and Ellis by UTA and Independent Talent Group.